As described in a bulletin published by the Texas Agricultural Extension Service (B1536), entitled Fire Ants and Their Control, fire ants are of tremendous concern in many parts of the country, and especially in Texas in which relatively mild winters and other environmental conditions contribute to the rapid proliferation of fire ants in that state.
Currently, there is no single universal solution to the fire ant problem, although a number of home remedies have been attempted. For example, gasoline or other petroleum products have been used to kill fire ant colonies. However, this practice is not generally recommended because such products are dangerously flammable, kill grass and plants and seriously pollute the soil. Other remedies include the use of soap solutions, cleaning products or wood ashes, soaked into the fire ant mound, as well as battery acids, bleaches or ammonia products. However, all of these products are generally ineffective and dangerous, and they represent potentially serious pollutants.
Bait formulations are also available for killing fire ants. Such products usually contain pesticides formulated on bait of processed corn grits coated with soybean oil. However, soybean oil becomes rancid and less attractive to ants if it is exposed to sun light. Also, moisture and rain will dissolve the bait particles. There are several types of active ingredients presently on the market formulated as baits of for fire ants. For example, Amidinohydrazone or Hydrametaylnon (marketed under the Registered Trademark AMDRO) kills ants ingesting the product. However, the product can be dangerous if ingested by children or small animals. Also the product can pollute the soil and water.
It is an objective of the present invention to provide a protected dispensing trap in which appropriate poisonous bait such as AMDRO may be stored, and which provides a protective housing for the bait to shield the bait from sunlight, rain or other weather conditions.
Another objective of the invention is to provide such a trap, or poison dispenser, with eliminates the need to cover large areas with the bait, or to locate the ant hills, or to dispense poison on individual ant hills and which serves to keep the bait away from children and small animals.